Control

[Geisterfaust]

Control

 

After a secretive agency in New York is invaded by an otherworldly threat, you become the new Director struggling to regain Control.

From developer Remedy Entertainment, this supernatural 3rd person action-adventure will challenge you to master the combination of supernatural abilities, modifiable loadouts, and reactive environments while fighting through a deep and unpredictable world.

Key features

Control is Jesse Faden's story. The main plot focuses on her personal search for answers as she grows into the role of the Director. The world of Control has its own story, as do the allies Jesse meets along the way. Side-quests and Secrets are everywhere. Jesse works with other Bureau agents, decodes cryptic ciphers and discovers strange Bureau experiments.

WORLD WITHIN A LOCATION
Explore diverse environments and shifting architecture in a deep unpredictable world, set within a sprawling New York building.

FLEXIBLE AND SUPERNATURAL COMBAT SYSTEM
Define your playstyle by integrating supernatural abilities, upgrades, and modifiable loadouts.

REACTIVE ENVIRONMENTS
Harness dynamic environmental destruction for exciting combat possibilities and master complex rituals to alter your surroundings.

REALITY MEETS THE UNEXPLAINABLE
Dive into a dark and brutalist-inspired world where daily reality has been corrupted by an otherworldly force.

 

 

 

I've decided to create a topic, since I have a lot of respect for Remedy games after Max Payne and Alan Wake. My initial impressions are that Remedy are back at their feet with this thing: dark, sinister, unique, but with a familiar signature that could be easily recognised by the fans of Alaw Wake series. Gameplay is quite interesting and graphically this thing is quite serious, it's the only game I've played that was able to at least try to melt my Asus Strix 1080 Ti in 1080p with V-sync enabled.

 

Character models are absolutely photorealistic and the world is semi-destructable. I'm still at the beginning of the game, but I can definitely recommend it if you have played and liked Alan Wake.

Edited August 29, 2019 by hei3enberg

[Static]

Just another game i gotta wait a 6 months to a year to play, even though i got a key when i bought my 2070s

[Jason]

Games from devs of this size are potentially sort of shooting them selves in the foot by going EGS exclusive cause players who wait for the Steam release will probably end up waiting for discounts as well. I hope the Fortnite money is worth it.

 

That aside, game looks dope tbh, gonna need to upgrade my PC before I pick it up though I think. Love the cosmic horror vibes it has and some of the gifs I've seen of the destruction are 

 

[Geisterfaust]

9 hours ago, Jason said:

Games from devs of this size are potentially sort of shooting them selves in the foot by going EGS exclusive cause players who wait for the Steam release will probably end up waiting for discounts as well. I hope the Fortnite money is worth it.

That's a very bad move indeed. On the official website it's only listed as available on PC in US. Considering that Remedy are Finns it's absolutely laughable. Epic is so bad that I've heard about people in Switzerland who have pirated Epic-exclusive games and wrote e-mails to the developers asking them to charge their credit cards for the game later (local laws are kind of flexible there, especially in some cantons).

9 hours ago, Jason said:

That aside, game looks dope tbh, gonna need to upgrade my PC before I pick it up though I think. Love the cosmic horror vibes it has and some of the gifs I've seen of the destruction are 

Recommended optimization settings:

Volumetric lighting MED-HIGH

Reflections LOW even for 1080 Ti

Anything else could be left on ultra without serious consequences. First two screenshots were made on all-ultra while using 1080 Ti at almost 2000 MHz, so yeah, reflections are melting GPUs.

 

Facial details and animations are amazing!

 

Volumetric lighting and SSAO are making wonders in some scenes too:

 

These levels are reminding me of the classical Max Payne bloodtrails levels, especially with the hissing sound instead of cries

 

 

Weird weapon modifications are available plus you can basically use anything as a throwable weapon too.

Edited August 28, 2019 by hei3enberg

[Guest Billy Russo]

This game looks generic and cool at the same time. I love the mechanics but from what I've seen the story doesn't seem to be anything special. Has a very Quantum Break feel to it, which also had a weak story. Looks a bit more interactive and interesting than Quantum Break though. This'll probably be something I pick up on sale.

[sivispacem]

Beautiful graphics, ray tracing, impenetrable storyline, environmental destruction, great gunplay and lots of Lovecraft nods? Sign me up!

[Geisterfaust]

4 hours ago, Billy Russo said:

This game looks generic and cool at the same time. I love the mechanics but from what I've seen the story doesn't seem to be anything special. Has a very Quantum Break feel to it, which also had a weak story. Looks a bit more interactive and interesting than Quantum Break though. This'll probably be something I pick up on sale.

That's exactly what my wife said when she watched me playing the thing. Random footage may look like quite a generic stuff, but when you're actually playing it, it's different and the sound adds a lot of sinister feel to it. Playing this thing on mute and in good headphones makes a difference. There's definitely Alan Wake DNA in this things can't tell anything about Quantum break since I have never played it. 

 

 

Day two it feels challenging at some places. A lot of missions and freedom to track them, increasing difficulty of the enemies is getting to me. There's infinite ammo with a short cooldown, but the health is not regenerating unless you're picking it up from the fallen enemies or checking it at the designated point. There's no manual saving, only checkpoints and the levels are claustrophobic enough to be similar to the RE 2 remake. Still figuring out personal and weapon upgrades. 

[Corndawg93]

This game is f*cking awesome

[Algonquin Assassin]

I really like this game, BUT it's annoying when you die and you spawn back at the nearest fast travel point (or whatever they're called). I know it's a fairly small map, but it's a weird way of handling checkpoints IMO. Still enjoying the game though. I liked Quantum Break despite its mixed reviews and Alan Wake also.

[Geisterfaust]

5 hours ago, SonOfLiberty said:

I really like this game, BUT it's annoying when you die and you spawn back at the nearest fast travel point (or whatever they're called). I know it's a fairly small map, but it's a weird way of handling checkpoints IMO. Still enjoying the game though. I liked Quantum Break despite its mixed reviews and Alan Wake also.

Checkpoint system is weird and the lack of manual progress saving is a major downside IMO. At least we should be able to save the progress as we see fit.

 

Played a quick session, around half an hour before doing home stuff and I should say that I like it. Combat system is addictive and interesting. Can't figure why people are complaining about the controls, it's quite decent. Not DOOM smooth of course, but on the controller it's even more satisfying than on the KB. Some of the quests are fun and that janitor you will meet is absolutely boss.

 

 

Edited August 29, 2019 by hei3enberg

[trip]

I enjoy Remedy games so I picked this up last night.   I'll play this weekend.

 

It looks almost too much like Quantum Break but we'll see..

 

E:

I have a handful of hours in.

It is very much a Remedy game. 

I'll write a longer impression bit later.

Edited August 31, 2019 by trip

[Geisterfaust]

23 hours ago, trip said:

It looks almost too much like Quantum Break but we'll see..

I have somehow missed Quantum Break, but there's a lot of stuff that is similar to Alan Wake in the general mechanics, but unlimited ammo is absolutely amazing idea.

 

Characters are really remarkable:

 

Especially this guy

 

 

Quarry level should look gorgeous with ray tracing, I think

 

 

 

[Furry_Monkey]

I just started playing this today and so far so good.  I've not played it for long but I'm hoping that combat gets better as it goes on.  I can shoot, throw sh*t at people and have just learned to evade.  The first real challenge, Tommasi, was an absolute pain in the arse.  I had about 10 attempts and died real quick every time, and then when I did finally kill him it seemed really simple.

 

I have to admit that I've found myself just running round thinking, "I'm meant to be doing what now?", but so far I've always found what I'm supposed to be doing.

 

It's odd, but so far it's fun.

[Edward Nashton]

Just beat this game yesterday. Goddamn, I was not expecting how awesome it was going to be. I knew very little about the game coming in aside from knowing it was a Remedy joint. When I slowly began to realize it was an SCP inspired metroidvania game with Jedi powers and a robust physics engine, and some David Lynch style weirdness to top it all off (Ahti the janitor suspiciously bares a strong resemblance to him), holy sh*t, it was like this game was tailor made for me. I think I'm also done with all the side missions, which are incredible as well, and a lot of them end with a pretty awesome boss fight. 

 

My only strong complaint is that the difficulty spikes way up towards the very end, getting hit once by the heavier enemies damn near kills you and the check points are spread far apart. You have to go through two massive fights pretty much flawlessly, which is a bit disappointing because the game has some good boss fights, I don't know why they chose to end the game with a gauntlet run. The performance also takes a hit when the action goes bananas on the consoles, I bought this for the PS4 because my PC can't run the game with all the visuals turned up. I'm definitely buying this game again when I do upgrade, though. 

 

Aside from those two issues, this game is near perfect imo and is probably Remedy's best game since Max Payne 2. 

[Geisterfaust]

@Edward Nashton, I agree about the difficulty. @Furry_Monkey is also right that most of the time you're experimenting and there are no tutorials and that makes the game feel very old school, most modern titles are mostly holding your hand all the time.

All the points about performance are true, I've played this thing recently on Asus 2080 Ti (1080p) and in some fights GPU is getting up to 70% of usage, while 1080 TI with the same settings will be around 90%. I wish optimization was better, because console players are really suffering.

 

6 hours ago, Edward Nashton said:

Aside from those two issues, this game is near perfect imo and is probably Remedy's best game since Max Payne 2. 

And, what's important, one of the most unique games on the market right now.

[DOUGL4S1]

The game looks pretty good, but I couldn't stop thinking about Max Payne when watching the trailer.

[trip]

It is very much like Quantum Break.  It does get a bit samey.  

 

I kinda half feel like they shoehorned in the female protag.

[Geisterfaust]

5 hours ago, DOUGL4S1 said:

The game looks pretty good, but I couldn't stop thinking about Max Payne when watching the trailer.

Some of the levels are really getting you the same vibes as the Max Payne blood maze.

[Geisterfaust]

So, I've finished the game finally. Yes, that's what being sick, working and taking care of the dogs regularly does to the gaming schedule, I've just finished it literally, almost three weeks after the thing launched and I have started playing it. Anyway, it's absolutely amazing, although quite challenging at the end with very intense fights. It is true, that Remedy does what nobody else can even dream of in terms of weird concepts of reality. After playing last half an hour my color perception was distorted and as soon as I got back to IRL white felt yellow and I felt weird.

 

What's also great about this game, is that you can keep playing it after completion of the story and do more missions for the fun of it. I've got this game for 18.25 EUR in Russian Epic store and that's absolute steal. Basically, couple of burgers worth entertainment. Never thought that I would say anything good about the Epic store, but for Russians the pricing is tanking, that's the same price I've paid for another great game: WRC 8, but that's another story.

 

 

If you want to understand what I'm talking about, just watch this video. It's a masterpiece in terms of innovative level design in modern video games and I would like to hope they will get an award for that.

 

Here's a funny video with a small inside joke about the fridge, done by beautiful lady we're playing as. Quite cool.

 

[Furry_Monkey]

On 9/18/2019 at 12:03 AM, Geisterfaust said:

So, I've finished the game finally. Yes, that's what being sick, working and taking care of the dogs regularly does to the gaming schedule, I've just finished it literally, almost three weeks after the thing launched and I have started playing it. Anyway, it's absolutely amazing, although quite challenging at the end with very intense fights. It is true, that Remedy does what nobody else can even dream of in terms of weird concepts of reality. After playing last half an hour my color perception was distorted and as soon as I got back to IRL white felt yellow and I felt weird.

 

I finished it myself today.  There were some very difficult parts, and I found myself stuck twice and had to go and find other missions and get new abilities before I could get any further.  It was a little frustrating to fight for about 20 minutes solidly, die, and then have to start the fight all over again.  That could do with some thought, but I did enjoy the challenge.

 

If you're playing it and haven't finished it, don't read this...

 

Spoiler

I LOVED the fake ending, after you finish the fight in the Hedron Chamber and the credits start to roll.  At the time I was a bit disappointed that it had finished so suddenly with so much left to find out, and then I looked back at the screen a minute or two later.  That was very nicely done.

 

Also, did you remember to go back for Phil?  If you didn't then go help the poor guy out, or he'll be staring at that fridge forever!

 

[Geisterfaust]

31 minutes ago, Furry_Monkey said:

If you're playing it and haven't finished it, don't read this...

Spoiler

Sadly, I'm not aware there's a way to actually save a guy in the fridge room. Fake ending was a good move, but with Remedy I was on the lookout and also decided to wait it out for further details and voila!

 

Checkpoint system is very annoying at this game and I should confess, that I have used a trainer to beat one last sequence since I just could not be bothered to do it for the 6th time. After, it's a single player game and I'm not ruining other people experience, I've just decided that there's nothing to gain from doing it over and over.

[Furry_Monkey]

23 hours ago, Geisterfaust said:

  Reveal hidden contents

Sadly, I'm not aware there's a way to actually save a guy in the fridge room. Fake ending was a good move, but with Remedy I was on the lookout and also decided to wait it out for further details and voila!

 

Checkpoint system is very annoying at this game and I should confess, that I have used a trainer to beat one last sequence since I just could not be bothered to do it for the 6th time. After, it's a single player game and I'm not ruining other people experience, I've just decided that there's nothing to gain from doing it over and over.

I jumped on Youtube twice.  Once was a fight I just couldn't do, and I saw someone on Youtube do it with more abilities.  I got the same abilities myself (Sieze & Shield) and the fight suddenly became quite easy.

 

The 2nd time was when I was stuck at the Ashtray Maze.  I just wasn't paying attention to the fact it was telling me to go see Ahti.  I found him "on holiday", and then entered the Ashtray Maze.  Damn that level was a LOT of fun.  Quite possibly one of my favourite gaming moments ever, and I completed Manic Miner

[Corndawg93]

Both Mold 1 and the second fight with Doctor Tomassi suck, they both cheat

[Static]

Photo Mode coming this week

[Geisterfaust]

On 10/16/2019 at 6:00 AM, Static said:

Photo Mode coming this week

That is actually amazing, because I've put the game on hold after beating the main story, but I will definitely come back to beat some side quests and do photos for this topic.

[trip]

Bumping because...

 

I stopped playing Control not too long after a day 1 start, but after seeing a bunch of articles googooing it I picked it back up.

 

Holy crap!  The crazy ashtray maze level is a blast.  Extra credit to the designer(s)...great change of pace for sure.

 

I love Remedy games and they did an amazing job with this engine.  So much little detail.

 

Looking forward to playing the DLC.  

[Furry_Monkey]

On 7/11/2020 at 7:29 PM, trip said:

Holy crap!  The crazy ashtray maze level is a blast.  Extra credit to the designer(s)...great change of pace for sure. 

 

Yeah, that is easily my favourite level in any game ever.  I found the start point way before I opened up the level and I spent ages trying to get in, only to keep failing.  I eventually went to YouTube to see if I was missing something, and found out that I needed to keep playing the game.  That was all cool, but sadly while on YouTube I also saw a brief clip of gameplay from the level, so it wasn't a surprise when I did eventually get in there.

 

Still damn fine though.  I could replay that daily and never get bored!

Edited July 19, 2020 by Furry_Monkey